Kananaskis

The snowpack is tricky right now. New wind slabs, sun crust and a deeper crust all play into your route selection. This new snow might be enough to cover the most recent avalanche debris and would provide safer options.

A Special Public Avalanche Warning is in effect and has been extended. Click the red SPAW link for details.

No new avalanches observed today. The sun is really starting to have some power. Solar aspects can become moist in the afternoon if the sun pokes out. Pinwheeling is a good indicator of the surface snow loosing cohesion.

The winds have been strong the last few days creating extensive wind slabs at tree line and above and if triggered, could step down to the Feb 2 layer down 70-100cm. Expect the most recent sun crust to be buried under 5-10cm of this incoming snow on solar aspects. This sun crust will be a new sliding layer for the most recent snow to avalanche on, especially if the snow amounts are larger than forecasted.

Cloudy and flurries on Monday with up to 10cm of snow by mid-day. The high temperature in the alpine will be -5c and freezing level around 2000m. Winds are expected to slow down a bit to 50-60km/hr from the SW.

More details can be found in the Mountain Weather Forecast.

• Potential for wide propagation exists, fresh slabs may rest on surface hoar, facets and/or crust.
• Remote triggering is a concern, watch out for adjacent and overhead slopes.
• If triggered, wind slabs avalanches may step down to deeper layers resulting in larger avalanches.